My husband and I are leaving soon to drive to Sun Valley, Idaho for a wedding of children of family friends. We have known both the bride and the groom for over twenty years, one of the blessings of living in a small community. We are delighted to be going out of town to a stunning locale and ecstatic that we were invited to witness young people beginning their lives as a married couple. We plan to bike and hike when we are not taking part in the wedding festivities.
But life’s joys and adventures seem limitless right now among my friends. I do not know if they are post-pandemic blossomings or merely happy coincidences.
In addition to the wedding we are attending, two other couples have just watched their offspring get married, one in Mexico (the daughter of traveling and running friends Matt and Annie) and one here in Washington state (the son of biking trip comrades Mark and Heidi). I can only imagine their delight in watching their children take a loving and bold step, one that was no doubt delayed by viral health concerns or travel restrictions. As parents, we know our sons and daughters have a choice in deciding whether a partnership needs a legal stamp or whether love is a sufficient tether. But we adore it when they decide they want both.
Active travel is the common footprint of our friends. Ted, a beast of a physical specimen, just left to bike week-long Cycle Oregon, which involves 440+ miles and 35,000 feet of elevation. His wife Jeanne eschewed the week of biking and decided to simply walk eight to ten miles a day, for endless days in a row, on an English National Trail. Friends Jean and Paul left on Saturday this week for the Tour du Mont Blanc Trail hike, a 105 mile, 11-day circumnavigation around the base of Mont Blanc through France, Italy, and Switzerland. So easy! At least for those two.
Running buddies Jeff and Karen are presently frolicking through Portugal busily and vigorously, polishing off each day with fabulous local cuisine paired with good wine. Friends Patrick and Julie are enjoying an active vacation of a different sort: moving their daughter into a new apartment to begin graduate school. The pleasure of watching your adult child’s ambitious life unfold is both stirring and magnificent for a parent.
Our own adult children have their share of out-of-town bachelor parties, weddings, and college roommate gatherings to look forward to in the coming weeks. And my talented niece and her husband will be taking their beautiful family on an eastern Washington camping trip in an Airstream trailer. If anyone can manage that trip with a lively soon-to-be three-year-old and a curious almost-one-year-old, they can. (I will keep them in my thoughts; I offered up our vacation home in Cle Elum as a back-up – just in case.)
I am dazzled by the adventurous spirit of my friends and family because it calls to mind the richness of an abundant existence. The people closest to me have faced life’s disheartening or painful moments with clear eyes and steady hands, even when wiping tears from their faces. They remind me of the underlying goodness of lives well-lived – finding solace within sorrow, peace within turmoil, and joy within difficulty.
The boundless possibilities of our world – from simple pleasures to extravagant travel – are ours to discover.